Question: Our mother died 17 years ago. Two years later, Dad remarried a woman 20 years younger than him. Dad was still working part-time and was living in the house he and my mother had shared for 32 years. He moved his new wife in with him. About a year later, she talked Dad into putting her name on the house title even though she had not contributed one penny to the house or the upkeep. In fact, she kept all of her money separate and wouldn't pay for anything. Dad suffered a stroke four years ago, and even though he was partially paralyzed, he continued to work and lead a more or less normal life.

But he and my step-mother had many problems in their marriage which became worse after the stroke. She started to abuse him mentally and physically, refused to cook or take care of his clothes, etc. Finally, during one of their heated arguments, she called the police and reported him for domestic abuse which meant that he was put out of his own house. He had no place to go and moved in with me and my wife. We tried to help him get a restraining order against her and to have her removed from the home, but were denied by the courts.

What made matters even worse is that though she works, Dad was ordered to pay all the expenses for the house and pay her temporary alimony. For "protection" against this disabled 81 year old man, she moved her two grown children into the house, who also work.

The divorce became very messy and, after constant fights between the families, a settlement was reached last fall, she was required to move out, my father was ordered to pay her $35,000 for her half interest in the house, and Dad had to pay her $250 per month as alimony. She got to keep all of the money she saved during the marriage as "separate property." Dad's lawyer said this was the best we could hope for.

Before he could pay her, Dad had a heart attack and then another stroke, and died, leaving everything to my brother and me. He was 81. She is now taking his estate back to court to get the payments which were part of the divorce agreement including her alimony. Because her lawyer forget to ask that she be named as a beneficiary on my father's life policy before the divorce, she is also asking that the divorce be amended so she can get the insurance proceeds from me and my brother who were the beneficiaries.

How can a divorce be amended to get property from a person's estate after that person dies the divorce is over. I thought that once a person died, the alimony stopped. We would appreciate your point of view if you could give us your thoughts before our court date.

Answer: Generally speaking, alimony terminates upon the death of the recipient or the payor and is not enforceable against an estate at the death of the payor. However, depending on the wording of the marital settlement agreement, the alimony payments could have been designated as a lump sum payable over a term of years or as a stream of payments without termination contingencies. Sometimes agreements include language that makes the terms binding on the estate of the payor in one or more particulars. Since we don't know the wording of the agreement and court order approving the agreement, we would not hazard a guess -- but certainly your lawyer should know the answer to your question.

On the other hand, the issuance of the divorce decree should have terminated any right an ex-spouse might have had to seek an award of life insurance. We believe this claim should be determined to be frivolous by the Court.

But your ex-step-mother has a vested right to receive the $35,000 in property settlement in exchange for her half-interest in the your father's residence, and therefore has a valid claim.

SoloFact: This type of situation could have been avoided, to a large extent, by premarital planning which could include a premarital agreement.